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2025 County Report

Fires in Pend Oreille County, WA

In 2025, fire departments serving Pend Oreille County responded to 151 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,035 residents FIPS 53051 24 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
151
878 across 5 years
Building fires
23
48 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$1.2M structure · $346K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

151
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 15.2%
Unauthorized burning 19 12.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 11.3%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 16 10.6%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 10 6.6%
All other categories 66 43.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pend Oreille County?

Aug peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 5
Feb 10
Mar 6
Apr 16
May 7
Jun 17
Jul 20
Aug 25
Sep 18
Oct 19
Nov 1
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pend Oreille County

878 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 245
2022 214
2023 115
2024 153
2025 151
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
26%
8
Cause undetermined
23%
7
Intentional / arson
26%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
2
Under investigation
16%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pend Oreille County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Newport Building fires Major
2 $249,409 Newport Building fires Significant
3 $135,000 Newport Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Newport Building fires Significant
5 $96,284 Ione Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Cusick Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $25,000 Ione Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Newport Building fires Significant
9 $17,000 Newport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $15,000 Newport Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Pend Oreille County compares

Pend Oreille County vs WA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

49.75
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pend Oreille County
49.75
WA avg
8.31
US avg
7.15
7.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pend Oreille County
7.58
WA avg
0.69
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pend Oreille County
0
WA avg
4.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pend Oreille County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 53051.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in WA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Carlton 2014 BLM 230,101
2 Cold Springs 2020 BIA 189,911
3 Range 12 2016 DOD 176,834
4 Range 12 2016 BLM 175,245
5 Tunk Block 2015 BLM 165,004
6 North Star 2015 USFS 165,003
7 Diamond Creek 2017 USFS 126,836
8 Lime Belt 2015 BLM 120,526
9 SCHNEIDER SPRINGS 2021 USFS 107,352
10 Colockum Tarps 2013 BLM 81,513

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.